In Brooklyn, Projects, Plans and Hopes

By JOHN HOLUSHA

Published: January 27, 2002

AS construction work begins on 9 MetroTech South, a 670,000-square-foot building that will house 1,300 employees of Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, planning is under way to lay the zoning and other groundwork for other development in downtown Brooklyn.

While the new building will complete development of the 16-acre MetroTech complex, its developer and others active in the borough think Brooklyn could become increasingly attractive to companies that are expanding or that want to spread out their work forces for increased security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, while still remaining in the city.

To help make this happen, efforts are under way to revise the zoning for certain parts of the downtown area to permit the construction of buildings -- both office towers and housing -- larger than zoning now permits. The designated sites include four blocks along Livingston Street between Smith Street and Flatbush Avenue, several blocks on both sides of Willoughby Street near Flatbush Avenue and several blocks on the east side of Flatbush Avenue closer to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Others are working to add amenities by upgrading or expanding two existing malls. Work is to begin next month above the Long Island Rail Road's Brooklyn terminus on the four-story, 400,000-square-foot Atlantic Terminal Mall, almost half of which is to be occupied by a Target department store. The project includes foundation work for an eventual office tower, and city and Metropolitan Transportation Authority crews have been preparing the site for construction.

Some customers for the malls are expected to come from the area's student population, which will take on a more 24-hour character with the opening of a new dormitory this fall, with another one, at a different school, also being planned.

Further in the future -- with the other demands on city and state coffers raising questions about timing -- are ambitious plans for developing a park along the waterfront below Brooklyn Heights and, in the area around the Brooklyn Academy of Music, expanding cultural facilities while adding housing and office space.

Since many of these projects are dependent on city money, they are likely to be delayed by the current budget pressures. But backers say the preliminary work is necessary to prepare the area so that developers will be able to move quickly when demand is felt from companies that are expanding or are relocating some of their offices.

''Downtown Brooklyn has got to be ready to go in the next up-cycle,'' said James Whelan, director of the Downtown Brooklyn Council. The council is asking city planners to increase zoning in the designated locations to permit the development of 12 million square feet of space: 9 million commercial and 3 million residential.

He said residential construction was an important part of the plan to create what he terms ''a true downtown.'' He added, ''We need to have people here after 5:30 in the afternoon.'' One criticism of MetroTech has been that while thousands of people work there during the day, most leave for homes elsewhere in the city or in the suburbs after office hours, leaving the streets empty and lifeless.

Similarly, educational institutions in downtown Brooklyn are trying to turn at least a small number of the estimated 30,000 students who flood into the area each day into residents. As part of a $100 million renovation and expansion of its Brooklyn campus, Polytechnic University has built its first dormitory, a 400-bed facility that is scheduled to open in the fall. Brooklyn Law School has announced plans to build its first dormitory as well, with 350 beds, at the northwest corner of Boerum Place and State Street.

Having a larger 24-hour population should attract retailers and make the neighborhood more attractive to companies looking for office space, Mr. Whelan said. ''We serve Midtown and lower Manhattan, and we compete with the New Jersey waterfront,'' he said. Also among potential competitors is Long Island City, Queens, where a 37-block area was rezoned for greater density last year, although no projects are yet under way.

WHILE planners and developers agree that new commercial projects will most likely wait for the next economic upturn, the development of 9 MetroTech South is an indication of how fast things can happen when a site is ready to go and there is a client in need.

Before Sept. 11, the Forest City Ratner Companies, the developer of MetroTech, did not have an anchor tenant for the site, at the northwest corner of Myrtle Avenue and Flatbush Avenue Extension, and had no plans to build.

Then, ''the deal was done in two months,'' said Bruce C. Ratner, the company's president, of the decision by Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield to sign a lease for 322,220 square feet, or about one-half the 19-story building. Because the company's employees are currently scattered in different locations, construction is proceeding urgently. ''We are working double shifts and should have the building ready in 18 months, rather than the 24 to 30 months it would usually take,'' he said.